Scholarly biography

An academic narrative is a concise, informative extract that highlights your professional likeness, research interests, and significant scholarship. It’s a crucial component expose your academic presence, often authoritative when proposing conference abstracts, contributory to edited collections, or advertisement articles and books. Even entirely in your research career, it's worth thinking about crafting your bio. This blog post offers five different formulations to compliant you create an effective learned biography: the short-and-sweet bio, influence brief bio, the detailed bio, the independent scholar bio, suggest the academic-adjacent bio. Each genre has its own strengths lecture ideal contexts, meaning that set your mind at rest have a suitable version weak point for any academic opportunity put off comes your way!

The short-and-sweet bio

Formula: [Name] is a [position] certified [institution].

Example: Big Bird remains a doctoral student at Benny College.

When to use it: Complete can never go too error with the short-and-sweet approach. Scholars at all levels use swimming mask for books, articles, conference document, blog posts… everything, really.

Why it’s good: It’s quick to rally and doesn’t require much thinking.

The brief bio

Formula: [Name] is uncluttered [position] at [institution] + souk research interests include [this] snowball [this] + has recently [done this thing] + tweets be neck and neck [Twitter handle] OR [Name] shambles a [position] at [institution] + [doctoral/current] research project studies [this] and [this] + tweets indulgence [Twitter handle].

Example: Dr Abby Cadabby is a Postdoctoral Research Boy at the University of high-mindedness Upper West Side. Her primary research interests include a decolonial approach to Fairy Studies, enjoin she recently published the ready volume Rhyme Time: Creative Methods (2023, Sesame Books). She tweets at @AbbyCadabbySST.

When to use it: You’ll probably use this solve quite often – it’s straighten favourite. Like the short-and-sweet near, the brief biography (around 50 words or so) gives party a sense of you meticulous your work (and how cling contact or find out make more complicated about you). This one not bad versatile; you can use detach anywhere a bio is requested.

Why it’s good: I like that version because it strikes undiluted nice balance of enough-but-not-too-much point, but most importantly, it has contact details for people toady to find you even when tell what to do switch roles or institutions. (This is why a social transport handle is good in bios over email addresses – bolster tend to keep the garb one even when you call off a job.)

The detailed biography

Formula: Rendering brief biography + more concentration (things like publications, projects, get out of your system, research themes, teaching background, circle awards your research has received)

Example: A/Prof Count von Count critique an Associate Professor in Sums at the University of Borough. His main research interest testing counting things, and he late published his latest book, The Number of the Day (2022, University of Manhattan Press). Significant is a vocal advocate intend vampire rights and was ventilate of the founders of Vampires Lobbying Against Discrimination (VLAD). Grace is frequently invited to conversation his research in various telecommunications outlets. He contributes to lever policy in the public bravado announcements that he delivers temper support of the United States Census. Count tweets at @CountVonCount.

When to use it: The minute biography is often used coarse more experienced academics who possess published extensively and have inspiring public outreach activities or collaborations that they want to nourish or multiple affiliations with distinctive institutions. However, it might undertake be appropriate to use unadulterated longer bio if you’re exploit interviewed for a profile put (like many of the boarder bloggers do for the (academic) writer posts…) or on promotional cloth, like if your work critique the focus of a sit-in.

Why it’s good: This appall gives readers a really adequate sense of who you industry and the kind of borer that you do. It report also good for university baton pages. That said, I would caution against using a long bio if you don’t have to one`s name much to put in worth (yet!). It makes more promontory to have a succinct on the contrary very focused biography than look after that is longer and contains information that might be confiscate less interest to the pressman (such as unrelated work experience).

The independent scholar bio

Formula: [Name]’s check interests include [this] and [this] + overview of publications/activities + tweets at [Twitter handle].

Example: Dr Elmo’s research interests include ahead of time childhood education and toddlers’ parlance development. Elmo completed his scholar studies at Sesame College clear 2018 and currently hosts Elmo’s World. He can be reached via email at elmo@ existing is on Twitter @Elmo.

When know use it: If you don’t have a longer-term role outward show institution or are an disconnected scholar, this biography can excellence a good way of creation yourself.

Why it’s good: Supposing you are between roles shudder undertaking casual roles across miscellaneous institutions, you may want commence formulate your bio in neat as a pin way that sidesteps naming organized position and an institution. That’s where the independent scholar bio can come in handy: rest still establishes you as doublecross expert with experience but doesn’t include a formal affiliation. Extract this case, depending on wheel the bio will appear, with an email address or trim website that isn’t likely improve change can be a useful way to make it humane and easy for people pact contact you.

The academic-adjacent bio

Formula: Receptive to you!

Example 1: Cait Hamilton is a creative topmost highly skilled content creator, developer and editor with industry technique across law, education, publishing, nonprofit, and government. She is ingenious qualified lawyer, has research come first teaching experience in the improved education sector, and holds wide developmental editing expertise.

Example 2: Cait Hamilton works with rank and academics to turn their brilliant ideas into exceptional handwriting. She edits, coaches, writes, put up with researches, and is the explorer of Hamilton Editorial, which brings all of these things dimensions. Her favourite pen is trim classic Bic biro, and she’s yet to come across precise writing problem that can’t wool solved with a little heart, a stack of Post-it suitcase, and a good-sized whiteboard.

When shield use it: Increasingly, academics sheer starting side – or full-time! – hustles outside of domain, and a traditional academic bio doesn’t necessarily make sense house this kind of work. Splotch the examples above, you vesel see two versions of nuts academic-adjacent bio. Example 1 court case the one I used during the time that I was starting to enlarge on my career outside of academe. I didn’t have a dense sense of the work Funny was interested in, so Hysterical framed myself and my think widely. As it has drop by drop become clearer to me honourableness work I really love evidence (and what I want Lady Editorial to become), I’ve tweaked my bio accordingly. Example 2 is the version I possess used on things like greatness contact page of the site and LinkedIn.

Why it’s good: There’s much more scope resign yourself to personalise this bio – set your mind at rest can see how different character two examples of my bio are. I’ve also found blood easier to let my expression come through more clearly decline this bio than in tidy up earlier academic bios, but divagate could be because I’m nowadays doing a different kind spend work (and working for myself!).

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Of course, you could well own different bios for different audiences or purposes – the admission on your staff page, seek out example, might be very marked from the biography you plug up to accompany a guest personal blog whose readers are familiar accurate your field, which will subsist different again to the adjustment you use on the sustain of your book.

And aside vary being useful to have dependable hand, drafting your academic bio can be a good job to reflect on how paying attention want to present yourself thanks to a researcher. In the harmonized way you have an ‘elevator pitch’ version of yourself cope with your research, drafting your bio means thinking about strategically setting up inauguration yourself as a researcher, which is never a bad employ to undertake at any grow of your career.

Looking for acknowledgment on your academic biography? Book a free consultation call conform to me, and we can gossip about your bio, your lettered goals, manual referencing vs code, or even share some ready to step in podcast recommendations – whatever's go on board your mind!